Ah the lovely Christmas season in December! I had a great month! Locally I went to the Denver Botanical Gardens Blossoms of Light for the first time!
Travel
I spent Christmas in San Francisco! This was my second time to San Fran, but the last time was after I recently had ankle surgery and so couldn’t really walk that far. So this time I was all GO GO GO! I did and saw so much but still need to make it back!
I also got approved for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck! So no more SSSS list cause I’m a Trusted Traveler now!!
Highlights
- Christmas Lights Tour of San Francisco in a Hippy Van!
- Having a lot of fun discovering the California Academy of Sciences and then having tea at the Japanese Gardens.
- A lovely Christmas Eve dinner cruise with amazing views!
- Christmas Day lunch after taking a walking tour of Chinatown and seeing how Fortune Cookies are made!
- Finally visiting a Petrified Forest.
- Getting upgraded to the VIP room in a Castle for wine tasting!
Challenges
- To be prepared, we got to places extra early…by extra I mean hours early. Opps! Ah well at least it wasn’t that bad…well except for this dude who started leaning on the other side of my pillow.
- Finding the Lucasfilm offices closed even though we were told they’d be open. Then finding out moments later that Carrie Fisher had just died. (And later the next day, her mother Debbie Reynolds passed away.)
- On a whim we went to the Winchester Mystery House on the way back to San Francisco. However, it wasn’t as scary or creepy as I had hoped and built up in my mind. But that could also be because it was nicely decorated up for Christmas.
Recommended Reading
Lili on the Loose
I’ve traveled a few times at Christmas and so December I always have a lot of great stories to share! My favorite this December were:
- Recalling the time I visited Venice on New Years Eve/Day and wondered what the strange tables were for. Found out later they were pathways in case Venice flooded (it did!)
- Discovering what “Christmas Pyramids” were in Germany.
- Beautifully decorated doors in colorful Burano.
- Asking a weary Christmas Market seller if he had the best job in the world (Spoiler: he hates it!)
- Listing out the 27 UNESCO World Heritage sites I’ve been to so far.
- And my favorite Christmas Market photo of antique ornaments!
Other Blogs
- Atlas and Boots has a perfect write up on if Tourism Caps should be implemented.
- I love weird things, and this Tea and Tarot reading in New Orleans sounds right up my alley.
- Speaking of New Orleans, it has never been high up on my list as a solo destination, but Dangerous Business provides some great alternate activities that sound like a fantastic time!
- Landlopers shares some great photos of his favorite Christmas Market foods that really brought back memories.
- I love these photos of Lego gingerbread houses at the White House!
- I also love these light paintings of dinosaurs!
Comic Books
I got a great Secret Santa gift from a co-worker that was a comic about the 10th Doctor and Weeping Angels!
Watchlist
TV
I started re-watching the West Wing every now and then. Of course I watched the Doctor Who Christmas Episode (last years and this years). I also watched a lot of “Would I Lie to You” on Youtube, as well as the Big Fat Quiz.
Movies
Obviously Christmas Movies were mostly on the list. I think I switched between the two Hallmark channels to watch TV Christmas Movies most of the month.
In theaters I saw Rogue One and loved it!
What’s Next
I don’t have any firm plans set for January. Mostly just getting back into the busy work season!
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